Canada Wins Two More Medals at the 2016 Pan Am Fencing Championships
Canadian Fencing Federation – Women’s Individual Foil and Men’s Sabre were in action today at the 2016 Pan Am Fencing Championships in Panama, and it was a very successful day, particularly in Women’s Foil. All four Canadian women finished in the top 16, with Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) and Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON) both taking home bronze medals.
All four Canadian foil women went 4 wins and 1 loss in the poules round and all four won all of their bouts to make it to the 16’s. Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon, SK) faced American Lee Kiefer ranked 3rd in the world and lost her bout 15-7, giving her a final ranking of 13th overall. That left Rio-bound Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON), Goldie and Ryan, who all won difficult bouts to advance to the quarter-finals. Harvey faced American Nzingha Prescod, 2015 World Championship bronze medalist, in her 16’s bout and won 8-2.
The Canadians proved their strength in the quarter-finals. Goldie faced American Sabrina Massialas and won 15-11 while Ryan faced Isis Gimenez from Argentina and won 8-6 to both advance to the medal round. After defeating Prescod, Harvey faced USA’s Kiefer in her quarter-final bout and unfortunately lost 15-7 to finish in 8th place.
In the semi-finals, Goldie fenced USA’s Nicole Ross, and had the lead but could not hang on for the victory, losing 15-13 to earn bronze. Ryan fenced Kiefer in her bout and fell 15-9 to also take home a bronze medal.
Men’s Individual Sabre also took to the floor today, and Canada’s top performer was Rio-bound Joseph Polossifakis (Laval, QC) who lost a close bout in the quarter-finals to USA’s Eli Dershwitz, 15-13, giving him a 7th place finish overall. Just behind him in 9th place was Fares Arfa (Laval, QC) who lost his round of 16 bout to Renzo Agresta of Brazil, the eventual winner of the event.
Canada’s other competitors in Men’s Sabre, Remi Bedard-Couture (Montreal, QC) and Pascal Lambert (L’Epiphanie, QC) finished 24th and 25th respectively.
Canada concludes the individual round of the Pan Am Championships with three medals and 15 top 16 performances. Team competition starts tomorrow with Canada’s Teams in Women’s Epee and Men’s Foil in action.
Photos and updates of the event are available through the CFF Facebook page.
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